Apparatus and method to calibrate the pto with the disk or sickle of an agricultural windrower

Abstract

An apparatus and method for calibrating a PTO for driving a cutter of a header of an agricultural windrower, wherein a programmable control module in connection with at least signal operated device in operative control of a variable displacement pump operable for controlling operation of the PTO, is programmed as part of an automatic calibration routine for directing signals to the device having values which will increase over time from a first value toward a second value. At the same time, the control module determines when a first movement of the cutter occurs. If the first movement occurs before the second signal value is reached, information representative of an electrical signal corresponding to the first movement is stored. The routine is then repeated using a higher range of electrical signal values to calibrate where the cutter reaches max speed. In either instance, if the speed condition is not reached with the outputting of the signals within the range, the calibration fails.